The Other Side of the Hill (2023)

As the Second World War raged across Europe, tensions brewed within the seemingly monolithic German war machine. Hitler, like dictators before him, had given his minions overlapping responsibility, so that they would plot against each other and keep him the arbiter. Germany’s military leadership worked well enough as Germany’s armies advanced in conquest after conquest. But Hitler's no retreat order in the difficult winter of 1941-1942 was a turning point in the way the war was run. All decisions now had to be approved from the top—a flagrant reversal of the German military tradition of setting objectives and giving subordinates freedom in how to attain them. As victory in the battle for Europe eluded the German generals and final defeat loomed, their competing agendas came ever more to the fore. Contravening their overseer, military leaders looked to a settlement with the Allies and, in a few cases, the end of the regime.

The Other Side of the Hill is a boardgame that simulates the effects that this struggle for power within the German High Command had on the development of the Second World War. Up to four players represent military leaders cooperating and competing as they manage Germany's wartime strategy. To win, they must vie for Prestige by advancing the careers of their favored Army and Army Group commanders, grabbing their share of victories while the early-war pickings are easy, then avoiding responsibility for battlefield disasters as the Soviets and the Western Allies solidify and push back.

Players will pursue hidden objectives to dominate the German Officer Corps on behalf of Interest Groups such as the technically-minded Professionals, a traditionalist Old Guard, or anti-Nazi Dissidents—all while Allied aircraft bombard Germany’s war industry and Allied armies press in on every front. As in history, players must reconcile contradictory roles. The German General Staff’s job is to hold the Allies off, but each clique’s priorities can subvert any collective strategy. And beware: a player may in secret be sabotaging the war effort!

The Other Side of the Hill offers competition for two, three, or four players as well as fully cooperative, semi-cooperative, and solitaire modes. Playing cards include intriguing historical details on World War Two’s real-life German Generals, strategic Directives, wartime Events, and personalities of the “Black Orchestra” plot to assassinate Hitler. Experience the European Theater of WWII as you have never gamed it before—from The Other Side of the Hill!